The people, unfortunately, are still very ignorant, and are kept in ignorance by the systematic efforts of all the governments, who consider this ign… - Mikhail Bakunin

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The people, unfortunately, are still very ignorant, and are kept in ignorance by the systematic efforts of all the governments, who consider this ignorance, not without good reason as one of the essential condition of their own power. Weighted down by their daily labor, deprived of leisure, of intellectual intercourse, of reading, in short of all the means and a good portion of the stimulants that develop thought in men, the people generally accept religious traditions without criticism and in a lump. These traditions surround them from infancy in all the situations of life, and artificially sustained in their minds by a multitude of official poisoners of all sorts, priests and laymen are transformed therein into a sort of mental and moral habit, too often more powerful even than their natural good sense.

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About Mikhail Bakunin

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаил Александрович Бакунин) (30 May 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a Russian political philosopher, anarchist, and noted atheist.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Баку́нин
Alternative Names: Michael Bakunin Michail Alexandrovich Bakunin A. M. Bakunin Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin Bakunin
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Quando se trata de botas, apelo para a autoridade dos sapateiros; se se trata de uma casa, de um canal ou de uma ferrovia, consulto a do arquiteto ou a do engenheiro. Por tal ciência especial, dirijo-me a este ou àquele cientista. Mas não deixo que me imponham nem o sapateiro, nem o arquiteto, nem o cientista. Eu os aceito livremente e com todo o respeito que me merecem sua inteligência, seu caráter, seu saber, reservando todavia meu direito incontestável de crítica e de controle. Não me contento em consultar uma única autoridade especialista, consulto várias; comparo suas opiniões, e escolho aquela que me parece a mais justa. Mas não reconheço nenhuma autoridade infalível, mesmo nas questões especiais; consequentemente, qualquer que seja o respeito que eu possa ter pela humanidade e pela sinceridade desse ou daquele indivíduo, não tenho fé absoluta em ninguém. Tal fé seria fatal à minha razão, à minha liberdade e ao próprio sucesso de minhas ações; ela me transformaria imediatamente num escravo estúpido, num instrumento da vontade e dos interesses de outrem.

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If there is a State, there must be the domination of one class by another and, as a result, slavery; the State without slavery is unthinkable - and this is why we are the enemies of the State.

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